Case: Hawaii Democrats have “Wiped out an entire Generation of Leadership”

WHT: Hawaii needs to move away from identity politics, says a former Congressman now vying for the Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate nomination….

“I very directly said to my party, ‘This doesn’t work very well any more,’” Case said Wednesday. “Who somebody is part of the equation. The difference is, if that’s the only way you’re judging a candidate, that’s wrong. … The extent to which we’ve practiced that here has hurt us.”

Hawaii’s Democratic Party is in a transitional period, Case said.

“The Democratic primary is a referendum on the old way of doing business and a new way of doing politics,” he said. “By micromanaging so much, the success of the 1954 generation, we’ve wiped out a whole generation of (party) leadership.”

He noted two 2010 elections in which the candidate receiving Sen. Dan Inouye’s endorsement — Mufi Hannemann in the governor’s race and Kirk Caldwell in Honolulu’s mayoral election — lost during the primary.

Hawaii also no longer is the “typical, liberal Democratic state,” Case said, noting Hawaii residents, when polled, more likely identify themselves as moderates….

Hirono supported the Progressive Caucus’s proposed budget, which would, among other things, have cut defense spending 20 percent to 25 percent. That would not have been a good budget for Hawaii, he said.

ILind: … there’s more silliness from the Democratic Party of Hawaii’s State Central Committee. The SCC, meeting in a rump session following the State Convention, reportedly authorized a lawsuit to block former Land Board chair Laura Thielen from running for State Senate as a Democrat, according to Civil Beat.

Although the issue was not debated during the convention, many Democrats thought an amendment to party rules that apply in such situations, which was approved by the full convention, was a tacit acknowledgement that Thielen’s case was mishandled by the party bureaucracy.

Democratic activist Bart Dame posted a long comment on that Civil Beat story. It’s too long to quote in full, and I highly recommend that it be read in full. But here’s a brief excerpt:

…in a long meeting on the Friday night of the convention, we reached a compromise around a more inclusive process for reviewing a potential candidate’s eligibility to run. It was the product of a few weeks of negotiations and managed to garner support from all but the most hardened opponents to Thielen’s candidacy. On Saturday morning, on the floor of the convention, delegates overwhelmingly defeated what was seen as an attempt to substitute more hardline language into the Rules. Since the convention had repudiated the hardline view, a lot of us were assuming there was general agreement towards putting this matter behind us.

Unfortunately, it appears State Chair Dante Carpenter and Oahu Chair Tony Gill had decided in advance of the convention to use the Sunday SCC meeting as an opportunity to secure approval for hiring an attorney to challenge Thielen’s ballot status as a Dem. For all their planning, they somehow failed to place the proposal on the agenda of the meeting. Surely that was an accidental oversight rather than a conscious attempt to conceal their plan.

HNN: Chief Silva says the Department has warned the Retirees Association in the past that HFD does not permit politically oriented organizations to utilize Fire Department property.

"We have a family type relationship with our retirees so we thought that just by educating them about the process it wouldn't continue but because it has continued we had to take that action," said Chief Silva. "We have no ill will toward any candidate in any election."

However the Hawaii Fire Fighters Association certainly has an opinion. It called the retirees endorsement of Cayetano a "disservice and an insult." In a letter written to its 3,000 members the union called Cayetano arrogant and disrespectful. The hard feelings date back to the 1996 contract negotiations when Cayetano was governor. The union is so frustrated with the Retirees Association it wants a retraction of the endorsement….

"It's a sign of disrespect and it's a sign of intimidation and bullying," said Ben Cayetano, Honolulu Mayoral Candidate and former Governor. "Read between the lines, it's clear that what's happening is that it's not just the firefighters union, but it's also the HGEA, UPW and this cabal of labor organizations pulling together because they're worried. They're worried about losing this election."

Oi: The link will bring energy-cost equality, cable advocates say. All across Hawaii, electricity customers will pay one rate. It probably won’t be cheaper because the companies that control the grid will get to pass along the cost of the cable, now guesstimated at $1 billion, and renewable energy infrastructure and production will be expensive. Oneness in a sprawling power grid may not be a wise move anyway, subject to disasters natural and human-precipitated.

SA: A federal protection and advocacy agency for people with disabilities is suing the state Department of Education for release of documents relating to an investigation of a complaint that a Pearl City Highlands Elementary School employee abused a disabled student.

The Hawaii Disability Rights Center filed the lawsuit last week in federal court.

The lawsuit says school Principal Michael Nakasato last July informed the student's parents that he had received an anonymous letter alleging abuse and neglect by a school employee. The letter said a teacher or aide yelled and swore at the student and pulled the student's hair.

Center Executive Director Louis Erteschik said his agency made two requests on behalf of the student's parents last August to see the anonymous letter.

KHON: "Why don't we share a landfill in each district, instead of burdening one district," said Kahele. "Cause you know we've all got that nimby attitude, not in my backyard, and I believe putting on in each backyard it'll resolve the problem." Kahele supports rail.

Hawaii Mail carriers union official allegedly embezzles more than $80,000

SA: A Hawaii man has been charged with embezzling more than $80,000 from a mail carriers' labor organization at the time he was the union's treasurer.

David M. Ing took $83,293 from the Hawaii branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers for his own use from Jan. 31, 2011, to Dec. 2, 2011, according to a grand jury indictment filed last week in U.S. District Court in Hawaii.

SA: Honolulu's job market is improving, but at a slower pace than in the best-performing mainland cities, according to a report released Wednesday.

Honolulu's unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent in April from 5.7 percent in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. April's rate was the lowest since April 2011, when it was 5.1 percent….

The number of unemployed in Ho­no­lulu fell to 24,300 in April from 26,400 in March, according to the BLS. The total labor force, which includes both employed and unemployed, fell to 458,200 in April from 462,900 in March….

Honolulu's April unemployment rate compared with rates of 8.7 percent for Hawaii County, 7.7 percent for Kauai County and 6.5 percent for Maui County. The statewide unadjusted rate was 6 percent in April. When adjusted for seasonal factors, the statewide rate was 6.3 percent.

SA: Hawaii residents interested in honing their leadership skills for the betterment of the state are invited by the newly created Hawaii Leadership Forum to apply for its first Omidyar Fellows Program.

The program will offer up to 15 selected applicants a chance to participate in a rigorous leadership development curriculum designed to prepare leaders for making lasting change in Hawaii, a news release said.

The 15-month program will begin in October and feature actionable skills development, networking with peers, self-reflection (brainwashing) and personal growth opportunities, the release said.

Crafty DLNR Proposal Ties Fate of Aquarium Collectors to Those Who Self-Righteously Attack them

HTH: West Hawaii’s shores could soon be the first in the state to become off limits to scuba spearfishing.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources is proposing banning the practice as well as placing additional regulations on aquarium collectors to help sustain the area’s reef fish populations….

Rob White, owner of Blue Water Hunter, a free-diving store in Kailua-Kona, said he has mixed feelings about the proposed ban. (LOL!!!)

But White added he is concerned it could be expanded to include other means of spearfishing.

“I know many of the guys spearfish commercially … they don’t mean any harm,” he said.

“It’s part of how they make their living.” (Shoe on other foot now, eh?)

Tina Owens, a fisheries council member and executive director of the LOST FISH Coalition, said she is “very pleased” with the list. (See what happens when we fight amongst ourselves? The eco-faddists walk in and take everybody’s lunch.)

KITV: The state Department of Land and Natural Resources wants to make it mandatory for anyone operating a boat to go through a safety course.

Clifford Inn from the department said, "The state's motivation for proposing this rule is safety, that's the bottom line. The state’s not making money on it, it's not a tax. All we want people to do is go through the boating safety course."

DLNR said six people died in Hawaiian waters last year and say those numbers could be reduced if boaters were certified.

WG: At least 13 politicians currently running for Senate – most with a message of fiscal restraint -- have filed for bankruptcy, been hit with liens for overdue taxes or been convicted of crimes, according to an investigation of the 350 candidates running for Senate that was conducted by the nonpartisan research firm InvestigativeCheck (www.investigativecheck.com) and shared with the Washington Guardian….

Former state senator John Carroll is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Hawaii. In 1994, Carroll filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and between 1996 and 2010, the IRS and the State of Hawaii have filed nearly $800,000 in tax liens against him. Although, Carroll did not respond to repeated attempts for comment, he confirmed the bankruptcy in an article in the Honolulu Advertiser in 2002. In a Hawaii newspaper article he explained the bankruptcy was "forced on him when foreign partners tried to squeeze him out of the pilot-leasing company he founded."